Chair: Stephen Burt (Harvard University, USA)
Philip McGowan (Queen’s University Belfast) Elizabeth Bishop’s Work of Fire
Angelica Nuzzo (City University of New York, USA) “… every so often the world is bound to shake”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Questions of Travel and Life Change
Katrina Mayson (University of Sheffield) Elizabeth Bishop: A “bad case of the Threes”; one, two and (an)other

7B Home and/as “Elsewhere”

Ennis Room

Chair: Anna Barton (University of Sheffield, UK)
Miyuki Amano (Prefectural University of Hiroshima) Understanding why “In the Village” is at the very heart of Elizabeth Bishop’s Questions of Travel
Brian Bartlett (St. Mary’s University, Canada) Bishop at the Movies
Mark Bauer (University of California, Berkeley, USA) The Elsewhere of Memory: Bishop’s Poems of Childhood in Questions of Travel

Coffee (3.20-4.40)

Last Letters: A roundtable on Lota de Macedo Soares’s Correspondence (3.40-4.40pm)

Dining Room

Chair: Jonathan Ellis (University of Sheffield, UK)

The roundtable will begin with a short paper by Dave Hoak (Independent Scholar) entitled Proofs of Love: The Last Letters of Lota de Macedo Soares. Other participants include Regina Przybycien, Lloyd Schwartz and Thomas Travisano.

President Laurie Gunn called the meeting to order and
welcomed about twenty members and guests to the EBSNS AGM for 2015. She made
note of the fact that there was an Open House at the Elizabeth Bishop House
that afternoon, in case anyone wanted to visit.

Secretary Sandra Barry read the Minutes of the 2014 AGM,
finding a minor factual error as she did so. As there were no other errors or
omissions, Sandra moved the acceptance of the corrected 2014 Minutes. Second
Patti Sharpe. All in favour. Accepted.

Treasurer Joy Graham presented the Financial Report for the
term 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015. As of 31 March 2015, the bank balance in
the EB account was $9,061.41. Joy made note of some of the expenditures and
income. She noted, for example, that the EBSNS had received a donation from the
estate of Donalda Nelson (one of the most faithful EBSNS members), as well as a
donation from a member of Donalda’s family. Overall, activity had returned to a
more regular or normal level, with all centenary and legacy projects completed.
Joy moved the acceptance of the Financial Report. Second Meredith Layton. All
in favour. Accepted.

Joy then distributed an information sheet, with an income
and disbursements breakdown for the period from 1 April to 20 June, 2015, which
indicated that the balance in the EB account was $11,052.17. Again, she noted a
few of the particulars.

In the absence of Nominating Committee member Bruce Gray,
board member John Barnstead presented the Nominating Committee Report. He noted
with sadness that founding board member Angus Chisholm was stepping down from
the board. John thanked him for his faithful service and said that we would be
returning to Gus shortly.

The proposed slate of officers and board for 2015-2016 were:

Laurie Gunn – President

Patti Sharpe – Vice President

Sandra Barry – Secretary

Joy Graham – Treasurer

Board:

John Barnstead – Past President

Lois Bray

Bruce Gray

Meredith Layton

Pat Townsend

Judith van Duren

New board members proposed:

Cathy Mazur

Laura Sharpe, who will be our inaugural “youth” board member

As there were no nominations from the floor, John declared
the slate of officers and board accepted.

Laurie Gunn presented her President’s Report (attached below),
which summarized the society’s activities in the previous year and looked
forward to The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015.

Her final item was to extend a heartfelt thank you to Angus
Chisholm on behalf of the EBSNS for his many years of service to and support of
the EBSNS. She presented him with one of her lovely photo cards containing two
complimentary tickets to the Suzie LeBlanc festival concert. She noted that we
will miss Gus’s steady presence, wisdom and sense of humour at board meetings,
but the EBSNS will keep hold of him for good because she asked for a motion to make
Gus a Life Member of the EBSNS. Immediately moved by Patti Sharpe. And
immediately seconded by Pat Townsend. All in favour. Accepted with a hearty
round of applause.

Laurie moved to have her report approved. Second June
Chisholm. All in favour. Accepted.

Meredith Layton rose and spoke about an important
development in the village with regard to the pergola. She noted that the
structure had sustained damage from the flood on 22 September 2014 and the
grounds had been disturbed by the construction of the new bridge. The Great
Village Historical Society and the Great Village Garden Club partnered to bring
in gravel and restore the grounds immediately around the pergola. The gravel
was donated by Masstown Concrete and delivered by Fred Priest. A work party
from both organizations spent a number of hours working to return the pergola
to its proper state. Lowland
Gardens once again
donated flowers for the planters. The panels were mounted for the summer
season. Everyone agreed that the pergola looks great again. And it was decided
that a letter of thanks would be sent to the Historical Society and Garden
Club.

The final item of the meeting was the official unveiling of
The Elizabeth Bishop Festival program. Laurie, Patti and Sandra described some
of the activities that will happen in Great Village
on 8 August 2015, a full day of events with over 30 artists and artisans. They
discussed the nature of the partnership with the In the Village Café, which
will be providing venue space and all the food.

Laurie asked Gus if he would move to adjourn the 2015 EBSNS
AGM. Gus so moved and the meeting was adjourned.

The In the Village Café provided tea, coffee and their
signature lemonade, along with a wide array of delicious sweets, of which all
in attendance partook with gusto. After a fifteen minute break for all to get
their treats, everyone settled in for the highlight of the afternoon.

Photograph by Brenda Barry

Sandra introduced guest speaker Binnie Brennan, a long-time
member of Symphony Nova Scotia and a writer
whose novel Like Any Other Monday was
recently published by Gaspereau Press. Sandra noted how during a casual
conversation at a coffee shop, Binnie mentioned a growing interest in the
silent film comedy star Buster Keaton. And from this moment a lively, on-going
conversation about Keaton began between them. Sandra noted how wonderful it was
to watch Binnie’s initial interest blossom into a full-blown passion, which
took her on a fascinating journey of research and writing, culminating in her
novel. Sandra thanked Binnie for bringing Buster Keaton and his uplifting art
into her life, and alerted to those assembled that on Sunday, on Turner Classic
Movies, Keaton’s great film “Steamboat Bill Jr.” was being broadcast.

Binnie Brennan presented a fascinating account of her
journey, even noting Elizabeth Bishop’s connection to Keaton. Bishop was a
Keaton fan and wrote but never finished an homage poem to the comedian, which
Binnie read. Binnie described some of her research and the path that lead her
to write about the final years of Keaton’s vaudeville days, before he embarked
on his film career. Part of this path included several writing retreats at the
Elizabeth Bishop House. She read passages from Like Any Other Monday and generously answered the many questions
from a rapt audience. Everyone was energized by this engaging talk/reading.
Sandra thanked Binnie for sharing some of her infectious enthusiasm and keen
knowledge of one of the most important comedians of the twentieth century.

Slowly, the gathering dispersed and went out into the
beautiful sunshine of the last day of spring 2015.

*******************************************************************

President’s report 2015 – Laurie Gunn

I
can’t believe all the good things that were accomplished in the last year. We
are truly celebrating the life and work of the poet Elizabeth Bishop through
various activities and projects and I am pleased to be part of it.

Last
July we set up an Elizabeth Bishop display in one corner of the sanctuary of
St. James Church, for folks who are interested in learning more about EB and
her connection to Great
Village. We are hoping to
make a more permanent display in the near future. The St. James Church
Preservation Society has already approved an area of the sanctuary for our new
permanent display in 2016.

On
August 17th, 2014 the society organized an “In the Village Afternoon” to
celebrate young people who had made a connection to Elizabeth Bishop in the
last few years. We invited them to come and share what creative things they
were involved in. It was a delightful afternoon with a good attendance from the
public and the program was entertaining and the food provided by the “In the
Village” Café was delicious.

In
September in honour of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia’s 20th
anniversary it was decided to put together a list of the most significant
resources, that the society, as well as organizations and individuals in Nova
Scotia, have created about or been inspired by Elizabeth Bishop. Sandra Barry
and Patti Sharpe did an excellent job creating this useful tool, in the form of
a brochure, for students, teachers, scholars and readers who wish to learn more
about Elizabeth Bishop.

In
October of 2014 we were invited to a meeting by the St. James Church
Preservation Society of Great Village, to discuss ways to use the church for
community based activities. At the meeting the EBSNS was asked if we might have
a one day EB activity in the summer of 2015. Sandra Barry, Patti Sharpe and
myself began meeting in December to plan the event and continued to meet and
email through the winter and spring. We have an amazing day for August 8th with
activities for everyone. The festival is a celebration of Nova Scotia’s rich artistic and cultural
heritage which we will tell you about a little later in the program. I wish to
thank Sandra Barry for doing an excellent job filling out and sending off the grant
applications in hope of obtaining funds for our one day arts festival. We are
continuing to look for volunteers as well as patrons of the festival. If you
are interested please let Sandra, Patti or myself know. We are also pleased to
have hired the services of Laura Sharpe who has created a Facebook account as
well as Twitter account. We are enjoying her postings and she is helping to
keep the Festival front and centre on the web.

This
spring we ordered 10 new “In The Village” banners to replace some of the older
banners that have faded because of the sun. Most of you may have noticed that
the EBSNS has a new website. A big thank you to Becky Colwell who has looked
after and paid for our website since it was created. It needed to be
transferred to a new

server
and updated as well. Becky employed the very talented Heidi Helm to create the
website that we have today, at a reduced cost to the society. Becky has also
contributed her own funds to help pay for the server costs for the next few
years. Heidi has also created a tutorial so that the executive can update the
website themselves. And last but not least, I wish to thank Gus Chisholm for
all his years of service to the EBSNS. He was one of the founding members and
is also a past president. We shall miss his wisdom and his sense of humour. I
ask that someone make a motion to have Angus Chisholm

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

...to remind us that spaces are still available to attend the Elizabeth Bishop Symposium to be held in North Haven on August 14 and 15, 2015. A description of the event and a link to purchase tickets may be found here.

Monday, June 22, 2015

-- with a REMINDER that today is the last booking date for the international conference "Elizabeth Bishop's Questions of Travel: Fifty Years After," which is being held at Halifax Hall, The University of Sheffield, 25-27 June 2015. For the convenience of the participants, and also for the benefit of those whose hearts may be in Sheffield but, alas, unaccompanied by their other organs -- only because these latter have been stranded elsewhere by the emaciated state of their owners' pocketbooks, -- we will be posting the daily schedule for this event later this week, as well as the abstracts of the presentations.

Further information about registering for the conference may be found here and here.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Born in Springhill, N.S., in 1953, Tom Spence, CD, BFA, moved a
lot as a child in a military family, but was given every opportunity to draw
and learn about art. He spent uncounted hours with the Jon Nagy “Learn to Draw”
kit and was enrolled in a two-year correspondence art course as a young teen.
After high school, he enrolled at Xavier
College in Sydney, N.S.,
in hopes of attaining a degree in Fine Arts. Alas, it would not happen as he
enrolled in the Air Force a year later (and ever after kicked his butt for not
sticking it out in college).

Tom
spent the next thirty-four years (retiring in 2007 with CD) in service to Canada, always
involved in the art community in some way wherever he ended up. He studied gemmology
and jewellery making, operated a stained glass business, sat as President of
the Norlite Art Club in Cold Lake,
Alberta, and created the
occasional painting and drawing. Before retiring from the Air Force, he
enrolled at the Nova Scotia
College of

Art
and Design University in Halifax, N.S., and graduated in 2008 with (finally) a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) with a major in Fine Art.

Tom's portable forge.

Tom
also served as Treasurer for the Truro Art Society from 2013–2015 and
participated in many of the society’s shows. Tom is also involved in blacksmithing, pottery, gem cutting, fine
jewellery making, woodworking, wine making, beekeeping and rebuilding an
antique car. He is currently involved in renovating an old farmhouse near Chester, N.S.,
with his wife, Alison.

Tom will set up his portable forge in the yard of the Elizabeth Bishop House. Bishop herself knew an artistic blacksmith, Mayhew (Mate) T. Fisher, whom she called "Nate" in "In the Village."

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Nova Scotian, Rosalee Peppard (www.rosalee.ca) and her effervescent art are
truly unique: a maritime women’s musical oral historian, Rosalee collects and
transcribes an authentic living echo of the voices of Canadian women she
interviews and researches. She crafts their stories into “song portraits” and
shares them passionately and powerfully in her “hauntingly beautiful live
performance” (Halifax
Chronicle Herald).

Rosalee has received two Dr. Helen Creighton Folklore Research awards and a
Colchester Heritage Award for her work published on three CDs: “No Place Like
Home,” “Legacy,” and “Voices.” Her song, “Elizabeth Bishop” (on “Voices” 2011)
was created for EB100.

Rosalee tours internationally and
has just returned from Belfast
where she was invited to present her “LIVING TITANIC — A Musical Memoir Of
Atlantic Canada’s Only Survivor: Hilda Mary Slayter” at the 2015 International
Titanic Convention.

Rosalee Peppard in action.

Rosalee will be performing for the first time at the
Elizabeth Bishop House during the morning of the festival.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

One of the main events of the Elizabeth Bishop Festival
taking place in Great
Village on 8 August 2015
is the Festival Market, where over a dozen artists and artisans will gather to
share their creations. This post is a profile of textile artist Cathy Mazur.

************************************************************

Cathy Mazur was born in Amherst,
N.S., and is now a new resident to Great Village,
after spending forty-one years working in Northern British
Columbia. Nova Scotia
kept calling her home.

Cathy has always had an appreciation for art, especially the
quirky and whimsical. An accomplished quilter, potter, genealogist and
gardener, she will try her hand at anything.

All forms of art are considered therapy to her.
Non-traditional designs and bright colours bring happiness to her demeanor.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Laura Sharpe of Great Village has been the creative and expressive mind behind the Elizabeth Bishop Festival Facebook Page. Laura is a student at Cobequid Education Centre in Truro, N.S. She has been writing fantastic "Great Village Monday" essays about her memories and experiences of living in Great Village. On Monday, 9 June, she posted a wonderful photo montage of Great Village then and now. Check it out! Though many things have changed since Elizabeth Bishop's time there in the 1910s and 1920s, many things have stayed the same. I for one am thrilled with what Laura is doing -- showing us her Great Village and how it echoes Elizabeth Bishop's village -- and how her own generation inhabits this still vibrant community. Bravo, Laura! And thank you for your fantastic work. Laura and her sister April and their friend Serena George will be at the festival screening two short films they have created -- and I think we'll be able to convince Laura to share the photo montage with everyone, too.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

One of the main features of the EB Festival taking place in
GV on 8 August 2015 is the “Festival Market” where over a dozen artists and
artisans will gather to share their creations. This post is a profile of author
Janet Maybee.

******************************************************************

Janet Maybee got her BA
(English) at the University
ofNew Brunswick,
where one of her classmates and great friends was Robert Cockburn, who later as
professor there introduced Sandra Barry to Elizabeth Bishop, a rather pivotal
happening! Janet proceeded to Dalhousie for MA (Honours) English, writing a
thesis on the history of theatre in Halifax.
She spent twenty-five years of teaching, mostly in special education and drama,
plus local community development projects, writing hundreds of press releases
for worthy (often lost) causes. She is currently Research Associate at Maritime Museum
of the Atlantic and working on history of pilot service in Halifax Harbour,
but mostly indulging in serious granny addiction.

In the fall, Janet’s book about Francis Mackey will
be published by Nimbus Publishing of Halifax, N.S. Mackay was a respected
harbour pilot with a spotless record of twenty-four years’ service when he
boarded Mont Blanc on the evening of 5
December 1917 and spent the night anchored outside the closed submarine nets.
The aging French ship had been loaded in New
York with a deadly cocktail of highly volatile
explosives. A series of mischances the next morning led the outward bound Norwegian
vessel Imo into collision with Mont Blanc,
gashing her forward hold deeply. Fire broke out instantly and as there was no
possible way to save the munitions-laden ship the captain ordered the crew to
the lifeboats; at 9:04:35 a disastrous explosion devastated Richmond and caused
terrible damage across the rest of Halifax. Mackey was vilified in the press,
in part because he survived while so many thousands were killed or maimed.

After the Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry he was
arrested along with Captain Aime Le Medec of Mont Blanc
and the port’s chief examining officer, Commander F. Evan Wyatt. All three were
charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence in the death of Mackey’s
longtime friend, Imo’s pilot, William Hayes. A Nova Scotia Supreme Court
justice, Judge Benjamin Russell, determined the charges were unfounded and
released Mackey from prison on a writ of habeas corpus. However, C.C.
Ballantyne, the minister of marine and fisheries, refused to restore Mackey’s
license. With a wife and six young children to support, the pilot found himself
unable to work at his profession. He spent the next four years and his life’s
savings in frustrating attempts to gain reinstatement. Reasons for denying the
return of his license were never given.

Check out this amazing link for a multi-media
account of the explosion:

Janet will be manning the Bookmark table at the
Festival Market – come and talk with her about her exciting new book.
Janet gave a talk about this fascinating subject at the Elizabeth Bishop House
a couple of years ago.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

On Saturday, 20 June 2015, at 1:30 p.m., the EBSNS will hold its AGM at "In the Village" Cafe in Great Village, N.S. We are delighted that Elizabeth Bishop Festival artist Binnie Brennan will be present to give a reading from her recent novel Like Any Other Monday. We are billing this AGM as the EB Festival Warm-Up, so come and learn more about the big event happening in Great Village on 8 August 2015. Everyone is welcome.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Chapter Seven covers the time in Bishop’s life from when she
arrived in Brazil
to her death. I felt far less confident writing about Bishop’s experiences in Brazil than
anywhere else. What did I know about Brazil? But one of the things I did
see in her letters, memoirs and poems written in and about Brazil was that her earliest years
resurfaced and echoed in her experiences there. When I finally went to Brazil, even though for only a brief visit, I
could see instantly why that place, seemingly so far from Nova
Scotia and New England, resonated
with her and reminded her of her childhood.

I can’t imagine that I would ever have gone to Brazil were it
not for Elizabeth Bishop. And for Brett Millier who so kindly invited me to be
part of the panel she was setting up for the Bishop conference that took place
in Ouro Prêto in 1999. Brett wrote a wonderful letter of support which helped
me secure travel funding from the Province
of Nova Scotia. Though
now over fifteen years ago, I still have vivid memories of that trip, and
occasionally still tell stories about it. Going there was an honour and
privilege for which I will always be grateful.

In Ouro Prêto, I stayed at the Pousada Casa Grande, a pleasant
little inn on the road to Mariana, not all that far from Bishop’s “Casa
Mariana.” Here is the view from the window of my room with Itacolomy in the
distance.

We attended a garden party at Casa Mariana where we all took
photos of each other (it was long before “selfies” existed!). Here is a photo
of me with Laura Menides (my room mate during that trip, on the left) and our dear friend
Michiru Tsubura (centre). Michiru presented the most delightful “musical biography” of
Elizabeth Bishop in the gorgeous baroque opera house in this astonishing city.

After the conference many of us went to see Lota’s house at
Samambaia near Petropolis, and, of course, Bishop’s studio there. Many things astonished me on
this trip (I suspect I was in a state of constant astonishment, like Bishop’s state of
“constant re-adjustment,” for the entire time), but the massive granite
escarpment soaring above the grounds of the house at Samambaia was
astonishingly breathtaking.

There were many grand moments (the beach in Rio, for example), but some of the most
memorable were the tiny, often brief encounters with something (for example, coming
upon a white horse standing quietly on a cobbled street in Tiradentes, early in
the morning when the mist was heavy and everything was still). One of the most
memorable moments for me was seeing a small sculpture done by Aleijadinho of a
mother and child reading. It was in a glass case in a museum in Mariana and it
cut right through my astonishment and spoke about the way we are all connected.
It triggered a little poem.

5 September 2017: Nulla dies sine linea

[Today, near the beginning of a new month traditionally associated with the first day of school we begin a new feature to replace the long-running "Today in Bishop." Each day we hope to post a brief reflection on a line from Bishop's poetry, beginning with the title of the first poem in her first book, North & South. We would be happy to have contributions from the Patronage-at-Large, should anyone be so inclined.]

"The Map"

Not simply "Map": abstract, generalized, a concept more than an object, perhaps not even a noun at all, but an imperative, an imperious directive; nor yet "A Map": token of a type, a random example run across by chance, perhaps, on the dusty dark-fumed oak table in the centre of Marks & Co. once-upon-a-time during a long-anticipated visit to 84, Charing Cross Road just prior to its burial beneath a modernist glass tower, where its once-upon-a-place is now marked by a memorial plaque; no, no, no — "The Map" — unique, archetypal, redolent of all that makes it one-and-only, but also a congeries of interwoven metonymies as patterned and abundant as the sixth of the "La Dame à la licorne" Flemish tapestries ("À mon seul désir") or as Vermeer's "De Soldaat en het Lachende Meisje"— or, yet again, as the map in EB's "Primer Class."

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John Barnstead

I retired in 2014 after forty years of teaching Russian language and literature. I'm a past president of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia.

Sandra Barry

I am a poet, independent scholar, freelance editor, and secretary of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia.

Suzie LeBlanc

I am a professional singer who recently became a great admirer of Elizabeth Bishop's writing. I am also fond of walking and nature and I became involved with the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary because I wanted to have her poems set to music so that I could sing them.